OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game 2nd Edition Up on Kickstarter

May 9, 2013

One of the better received anime inspired RPGs of the past decade is OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game and now an updated new 2nd edition is up for funding on Kickstarter. With well over a month to go the Wise Turtle title has already achieved it’s funding but that doesn’t mean you can’t get in on the ground floor.

From Wise Turtle:

OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game is exactly what it says in the title, a tabletop RPG lovingly crafted to capture the diverse worlds of Japanese animation. Save the princess (or prince!) from a fire-breathing dragon, tackle invading squadrons of giant robots, or find true love amid campus hijinks—everything you need is inside!

That’s because when you create a character in OVA, you define what is important. You pick which attributes matter by choosing the abilities and weaknesses that match your character concept. There are no long lists of hard-coded statistics to fill out and no classes to sift through. If it’s not important to your character, you don’t write it down!

Character creation takes minutes, and the rules are quick, consistent, and easy to understand. This makes it perfect for novices and newcomers. But if you’re an old hand at gaming, there’s room for boundless customization. You could give your character a simple bonus to damage, or you can stick around and detail each and every flashy move with unique perks and flaws. Or you could eschew having any combat attributes at all. OVA lets you play the story you want to create, not a predefined notion of what an adventure should entail.

This is actually a revised edition of the original OVA first published in 2005. While it was popular and garnered many glowing reviews, I felt it was time to take another look at the game and decide how to make it even better. I’ve spent the last few years tweaking and refining what makes OVA work, and replaced what was inconsistent or clunky. So even if you already own the original game, there’s lots of new stuff here to make your games smoother and more fun. Complications make failed tasks more than just awkward stop signs, the new Attack ability consolidates several old ones in a way that’s elegant and makes sense. This tuned-up edition of OVA simply plays better and smarter!

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...